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Salem Selectboard Wants Kinder Morgan To Explore Alternative Pipeline Routes

Credit Kinder Morgan / http://www.kindermorgan.com/content/docs/TGP_Northeast_Energy_Direct_Fact_Sheet.pdf

The selectboard in Salem is urging the developer of the proposed Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline to consider alternate routes through town. 

Chair Jim Keller says the board believes the path of the preliminary route may be more economical for developer Kinder Morgan, but is untenable for residents.

“There’s a school nearby, a rehab hospital nearby their path, a protected water body nearby, “ Keller says. “So we had asked them to seek out alternative routes.”

Keller says the letter also calls on Kinder Morgan to provide greater transparency about the proposal. He says a recent request for additional information was met with "a very short presentation that left us a bit dismayed." 

Kinder Morgan officials were not immediately available for comment, but officials with the developer have said they will consider the alternative routes before submitting an application to build, which is expected by the end of the year.

If approved, the project would include about 70 miles of new pipeline in New Hampshire, running through 17 communities. Most of the project would run along an existing power line corridor. 

Kinder Morgan says the project would give the region more natural gas pipeline capacity and would help avoid winter price spikes for gas and electricity. 

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